The international version of Steam has been blocked in China. This is being hotly discussed by Reddit users.
Currently, Steam domains have been blacklisted on December 25. Now, players from China only have access to a special regional version of Steam that Valve previously launched alongside Perfect World. This version lacks many social features.
In addition, the Chinese version of Steam currently only offers about 50 games. These projects have been specially inspected and approved by the governing body of local authorities. The list of games currently available includes Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2.
Steam China has many limitations
According to Valve polls, 22.11% of Steam users chose Chinese as the second most popular language. The game released by mainland developers reached the top of international sales even without an English translation.
Blocking Steam in China could affect both domestic studios and international markets. Currently only the Chinese version of Steam is still accessible in the country, offering a limited library of just 103 games, a tiny fraction of the more than 110,000 games Steam Global had at the time. present.
Many are trying to verify this using Comparitech’s tool to check if the site is blocked in China. When entering “store.steampowered.com” into the website, the tool indicates that Steam has been blocked in all regions of the country of billions of people. However, for “store.steamchina.com” the tool says the domain is still accessible.
The ban that made Chinese gamers only have access to Steam China took place for the first time in February this year. Aside from having only a handful of games, the platform also doesn’t have any community features, including Steam Workshop, Community Market, discussion forums, and an activity section that shows any current broadcasts from users on the platform. Steam, recent screenshots from the game, community-generated game guides, etc…
Actions to limit gaming activities
China’s apparent ban on Steam Global is one way of curtailing gaming. In July, Tencent launched a facial recognition technology that scans children’s faces to help gamers comply with China’s 10pm curfew to prevent kids from playing games late at night.
Just a month later, China implemented a new regulation restricting minors from playing games for more than three hours per week. The mainland later banned Fortnite even though the game was heavily modified to comply with strict local government rules.
The move to block Steam internationally comes as a surprise, but fits the Chinese government’s pattern of action on video games over the past 12 months.
